Xavier Guardans

Traveling Lights is the second in a series of five projected volumes of Xavier Guardans's (born 1954) long-term photographic projects. In this publication, 40 photographs are selected from more than 200 in Guardans' ongoing photographic series investigating light. The series began in Egypt in 2004 and was developed in 14 countries, including Kenya, Belize, China, Senegal, Vietnam, Spain and the US, among others. The images are arranged so that a visual narrative is weaved through seemingly disparate environments: stone mineral deposits found in the glaciers of Patagonia are juxtaposed with dried bush photographed in Mexico, creating complex textures and connections. The effects of light unite photographs taken of various subjects around the world into a coherent series. "Photography is painting with light," Guardans notes. "Everything else comes after that."